Thinking about the immortality of the crab

i cut my hair off and i feel like a new woman! and that woman is...a girl. who knew it would be possible for me to appear even younger than i already do? just call me baby sara.

it's friday night and as i'm wont to do, i drifted to sleep on the couch...and after moving to bed it became apparent sleep wasn't in the cards. my mind's busy with it's favorite past-time...daydreaming. or in this case nighttime daydreaming. i really think i'm a champion daydreamer. i mean, i daydream HARD; it gets me in trouble! the scenarios i come up with for any and all situations are borderline ridiculous. pipe dreams, if you will.

a few interesting tidbits from the wonder that is wikipedia (and my own thoughts in bold):

re: daydreaming

While daydreaming has long been derided as a lazy, non-productive pastime, daydreaming can be constructive in some contexts. There are numerous examples of people in creative or artistic careers, such as composers, novelists, and filmmakers, developing new ideas through daydreaming. Similarly, research scientists, mathematicians, and physicists have developed new ideas by daydreaming about their subject areas.

In the late 1800s, Toni Nelson argued that some daydreams with grandiose fantasies are self-gratifying attempts at "wish fulfillment". and what's wrong with that, i ask!

re: pipe dreams

A pipe dream is a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve. The term derives from the opium pipe, and dates to the late nineteenth century when opium smoking was common in the United States. who knew???

i feel like my dream of going back to school is a pipe dream right now...but if i throw enough PMA (positive mental attitude, see below) at that thing it just might come true.

one of the 'see also' links on the daydreaming wikipedia page was "Thinking about the immortality of the crab." obviously i was all "what the...?" i should have known...

The phrase is a Spanish idiom usually used to express that an individual was daydreaming, "When I have nothing to do I think about the immortality of the crab" (Cuando no tengo nada que hacer pienso en la inmortalidad del cangrejo). It is also used to wake someone from a reverie,"Are you thinking about the immortality of the crab?" (¿Estás pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo?)


hey guy

Spanish idioms are the best...they're so crazy! A couple off my favorites list....to which this crab one will be added...

• “Aquí hay gato encerrado” - “There’s a cat locked up here” aka “There’s something fishy going on here”.


• “Eso lo sabe hasta el gato” - “Even the cat knows that" aka “Everybody knows that”.

a final note on daydreaming from a WebMD article:

"Daydreaming is looked upon negatively because it represents 'non-doing' in a society that emphasizes productivity," says John McGrail, a clinical hypnotherapist in Los Angeles. "We are under constant pressure to do, achieve, produce, succeed."

my first thought was ugh that is so true and typical of americans. but then i reconsidered...yeah, we should be driven to do, achieve, produce and succeed. you only live once and shouldn't you DO while you're here...but when pressure is added to the mix things get tricky. it's got to come from your own will. live and let live, i say.

okay...so now for the PMA. in the last year or so i've made a concerted effort to live life on that posi tip. if you're interested in some quick, light, cheesy but possibly life-altering reading, pick up Creative Visualization. not to get too geeky on you, but ever since i put its ideas into practice i've been a pretty happy girl.

PMA - POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE
Positive mental attitude, or PMA, is a psychological term which describes a mental phenomenon in which the central idea is that one can increase achievement through optimistic thought processes. PMA implies that one has a vision of good natured change in one's mind; it employs a state of mind that continues to seek, find and execute ways to win, or find a desirable outcome, regardless of the circumstances. It rejects negativity, defeatism and hopelessness. Part of the process of achieving PMA employs motivating "self talk" and deliberate goal-directed thinking.

it's raining buckets outside and i'm headed off to bed...but not without a bad brains lullaby...


Don't care what they may say
We got that attitude!
Don't care what they may do
We got that attitude!
Hey, we got that P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!